Newcastle Falcons team to face Leicester Tigers

Tom Penny plays his 100^th game for Newcastle Falcons on Friday when Leicester Tigers visit Kingston Park in the ‘Big Night Oot’ fixture.

The 29-year-old Northumbrian starts at outside centre in Steve Diamond’s first home game in charge, with the consultant director of rugby making six changes to the side which travelled to Exeter Chiefs last weekend.

Guy Pepper and Freddie Lockwood are both ruled out with head knocks picked up during the Devon clash, with Ben Stevenson sidelined after injuring his knee during a game which saw him scoring a try in the opening minute.

Phil Brantingham and Richard Palframan slot in at props for Friday’s 7.45pm kick-off, with Philip van der Walt sliding back to the blind-side flank in a move which sees Tim Cardall come in at lock.

Ben Redshaw starts on the left wing after scoring a length-of-the-field try for England Under-20s a fortnight ago in France - the Leeds native recovering from a head knock he sustained during the Six Nations title decider.

Cameron Hutchison starts at inside centre following an impressive cameo from the bench at Exeter last weekend, while Sam Cross comes in to start on the open-side flank.

England Under-20s backs Oliver Spencer and Ben Douglas are both included on the bench, with Newcastle out for a repeat of the 45-26 victory they enjoyed the last time Leicester Tigers visited Kingston Park.

Relishing the prospect of his first home game at the helm, Diamond said: “I’ve come here plenty of times as a coach down the years, and it’s an absolute shocker playing a Friday night away game at Kingston Park.

“All I will say is we’ve got a really committed bunch of lads playing for us, a lot of them from the North East, and I’d urge the public in the area to come along and watch a proper spectacle of collision sport.

“One of those local lads is Tom Penny who plays his 100^th game for the Falcons on Friday, and it’s a great honour for him.

“No matter what anyone says I think it always means that little bit extra to lads who are from the locality, and I’m very pleased for Tom. He was outstanding for us last weekend down at Exeter, he puts his body on the line every time he plays and he’s someone who has given a lot of blood for this club.”

Expecting a stern test against the Tigers, the Falcons boss added: “Leicester are one of the super clubs, and losing at home like they did last weekend is hard for them to take. You’d expect a reaction coming up to little old Newcastle, and we’ll have to be at our best to stay close to them.

“They’ll turn to their mauling game, and it must be a new Australian technique or something with their head coach Dan McKellar because they’ve got blockers in all over those driving mauls, so they’re quite illegal. I’m hoping the refereeing department are having a look at them this week, but we’ve got to learn to defend it because they scored three against Gloucester last Friday.

“They’ll also kick the leather off the ball through Handre Pollard, they’ll have a massive back row chasing it and we know we’ve got a really tough game on our hands.”

Diamond’s charges were within a whisker of a bonus point in last weekend’s trip to Exeter, with the consultant director of rugby pleased by a lot of what he saw.

“I’m more disappointed about the two yellow cards and 17 penalties than anything else, because all we’d talked about during the week was being disciplined,” he said.

“We’d won away at Sale in a friendly in our previous game, and a big part of that was down to our low penalty count. At Exeter we conceded far too many penalties, and some real soft ones as well, but outside of that I thought we were really competitive and showed lots of positive signs.

“The skill level was good and I thought lads like Ben Stevenson did enough to show why they should be starting on a regular basis. Unfortunately he got injured during the game and will be out for a little while, but I’m learning about the players and about how I can move the thing forward.

“I wasn’t too distressed after the Exeter match because I don’t think we’re far away, and if we keep working the way we are then results will come. The players are working really hard and I can’t fault them on that score, but the next step is getting the momentum that comes with winning one of these tight games.

“The lads are doing a lot of the things that me and the coaches are asking of them, and that last couple of per cent that we need is down to some of the intangible things like belief and having the confidence to close out a result. I’m sure we can nail it, and I’m really positive about things.”

Newcastle Falcons team v Leicester Tigers (Friday, 7.45pm, Kingston Park, live on TNT Sports red button and Discovery+)

15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Tom Penny, 12 Cameron Hutchison, 11 Ben Redshaw, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 1 Phil Brantingham, 2 Jamie Blamire, 3 Richard Palframan, 4 Tim Cardall, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 6 Philip van der Walt, 7 Sam Cross, 8 Callum Chick (captain).

Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Murray McCallum, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 John Hawkins, 20 John Kelly, 21 Ben Douglas, 22 Rory Jennings, 23 Oliver Spencer.

Not available for selection: James Elliott, Freddie Lockwood, Kiran McDonald, Hugh O’Sullivan, Guy Pepper, Pedro Rubiolo, Ben Stevenson, Michael van Vuuren.